Sometimes you just need to make a file smaller, quality be darned.

Maybe it’s your kid’s school play performance that probably doesn’t need to be preserved in pristine 4K resolution. Or perhaps it’s a PDF that won’t fit within your email provider’s attachment size limits.

Whatever the case, it’s worth bookmarking a couple of free tools that can squish your files down without uploading them to some untrustworthy server somewhere or making any other needless compromises.

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For a simple way to make your files smaller, check out ​vidshift.io​ (for videos) and ​nanofile.io​ (for everything else).

➜ Vidshift and Nanofile are free online tools for compressing files, both from the same developer.

⌚ It takes just a minute to start uploading and compressing, though the actual compression times depend on the size of your files.

Both tools are free with no sign-ups or ads, and the compression all happens entirely offline.

1️⃣ Let’s start by looking at ​Nanofile​, which works for images, audio files, and documents. Open up the site, then either use the “Browse your device” link or drag a file directly onto the page. Nanofile will automatically recognize your file type and offer some options to make it smaller.

With MP3s, for instance, Nanofile can lower the bit rate, mix down from stereo to mono, and strip out cover art.

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